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WASHINGTON - NASA has established a requirements baseline for ground systems to be developed in support of the Constellation Program. The systems requirements review was conducted at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 5.

"Completion of the systems requirements review marks a major milestone in executing the development of ground systems, as well as operations strategies to support the next generation of space vehicles," said Tip Talone, Constellation's Ground Operations Project manager at Kennedy. The space center will be the launch site for future missions to low Earth orbit, the moon and other destinations in the solar system.

The review was an in-depth look at the basic capabilities necessary to support space vehicle integration and ground processing; launch processing infrastructure, including the vehicle assembly building, launch pads and launch control center; launch vehicle protection systems; launch checkout and control; crew safety and emergency egress; and fault tolerance requirements for the systems. Agency and contractor engineers from across the country reviewed the requirements. The requirements will be applied to all launch, landing and recovery activities for the Orion crew exploration vehicle, Ares I crew launch vehicle and Ares V cargo launch vehicle.

The ground operations team established plans for ensuring the requirements will be clearly communicated to hardware developers so the systems developed will comply with all relevant agency program and project requirements.

After completion of all project-level reviews, the Constellation Program plans an integrated review in late May to update and synchronize all Constellation Program baseline requirements. For more information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit: